You wrote:
--->Jim asked that I re-post this since he did not receive it last we=
ek. It was originally sent=20
on June 2, I think, and was really two seperate postings. Sorry if t=
his is a repeat for some=20
of you.
The first post:
Jim--
in the post that follows this one, I _will_ respond to your discussio=
n prompt,
but I=20
wanted to offer these couple of poems as a warning (friendly! :))=
=20
about
teaching/reading/writing in the contact zone. They come from Wendy=
=20
Rose's
_Going to War With All My Relations_ (Flagstaff: Entrada Books, 1993)=
. Can=20
we
think about these as texts and as textual sticks in the ribs to remin=
d us of
what=20
can/will/might happen when we begin to think about what happens to
students (and fellow=20
scholars) when they are asked to enter and engage the
contact zone in any form?? =20
Commentary would be welcome!!
*Comment on Ethnopoetics and Literacy*
for=20
jerome
I gradually came to understand that the words on the pages were trapp=
ed=20
words.
Anyone could learn to decipher the symbols and turn the trapped words=
=20
loose
again into speech. The ink of the print trapped the thoughts; they c=
ould no
more get=20
away than a domboo could get out of a pit.
-- Modupe,=20
African writer
Pick the words
=66rom the evening rain
with throats exposed,
bound and=20
thrown, quickly
thrust the spike in
bladeside down and turn,
now pull it up
=66rom the=20
neck
and drain them all
side by side,
guts on the ground,
paws in a small=20
pile,
everything severed
and stripped down to bone.
and stripped down to bone.
Remake=20
the bodies
in different positions--
another with one forefoot lifted;
strengthen those dead=20
bones with sticks,
puff out that hanging skin with cotton,
make the muscles bunch again=20
with clay.
Where once they scanned the sky
or the ground for hawk shadows,
put tiny=20
glass balls or bits of amber.
Admire what you have done.
Admire what you have=20
done.
Re-arrange the figures
into a natural scene.
Paint the background
into jungle or=20
desert,
scatter sand or leaves
around their claws. Remember
how you danced to their=20
beauty,
how you caught your breath watching them run,
how you moved your=20
head
listening to them call to each other
to mate in the moonlight.
to mate in the=20
moonlight.
You make them move
with the tip of your finger.
with the tip of your=20
finger.
You think that now
they will live forever.
they will live=20
forever.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
*For the Scholar Who Wrote a Book
About an American Indian Literary=20
Renaissance*
About an American Indian Literary Renaissance*
It was winter. We=20
were not loved.
We had nothing but our weapons
loose and easy. The enemy=20
could be
anywhere, was actually everywhere.
Our hands were stiff. Our lungs=20
were hot.
We carried sacred fire. We camped
behind you. You were deaf. So=20
we laughed.
behind you. You were deaf. So we laughed.
Do you=20
remember
when you twisted the wax from your ears
and shouted to me, 'You finally=20
speak!'
because now you
could finally hear?
The renaissance, you said, had=20
begun
and beads began to sprout
around our necks, stones germinated
=66rom the backs of=20
our fingers;
the drum began in the middle of the night
and you said 'The words have=20
broken free
=66rom silent stoic throats'
and from the pain of forgetting
we almost agreed.
=20
When you turned around
your mouth a great O
you finally heard
our long and noisy wait. =20
Or was it
mosquito squealing
in your ear?
in your=20
ear?
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
---->This was the second posting that followed the poems. It is prim=
arily a response to=20
Jim=D5s discussion prompt.
Could we talk about Mary Louise Pratt's Arts of the Contact Zone?
ANYONE WHO=20
NEEDS THEM IF YOU'LL JUST LET ME OR JOHN H. KNOW.
> interpretation.
>=20
Among many overgeneralizations, perhaps this is one we might discuss =
(?).
> Does=20
using the term `contact zone' as a way to describe the cultural and
READING IN AN=20
EFFOR TO CONTROL INTERPRETATION AND ITS IMPACT ON THE=20
IDEOLOGICAL
AS WELL AS THE MORE IMMEDIATE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL=20
EFFECTS IT COULD HAVE. IN FA
AS WELL AS THE MORE IMMEDIATE SOCIAL=20
AND CULTURAL EFFECTS IT COULD HAVE. IN
FACT, MANY OF OUR=20
STUDENTS COMPLAIN THAT WE (AND I MEAN ANY OF US WHO ATTEMPT=20
T
TO GET THEM TO RE-READ OR RE-THINK AT ALL) TRY TO DO THE SAME,=20
THAT WE INSIST O
ON TEACHING "FEMINISM" OR "MULTICULTURALISM"=20
FOR OURR OWN DARK PURPOSES AND NEE
NEED TO "CONTROL".
> Does=20
using the term `contact zone' as a way to describe the cultural and
> psychological impact=20
of reading devalue in any way the important political
> and cultural value of the=20
concept.
AS WELL AS THE MORE IMMEDIATE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL=20
EFFECTS IT COULD HAVE. IN
ON TEACHING "FEMINISM" OR=20
"MULTICULTURALISM" FOR OURR OWN DARK PURPOSES AND
ON=20
TEACHING "FEMINISM" OR "MULTICULTURALISM" FOR OURR OWN DARK=20
PURPOSES AND
ON TEACHING "FEMINISM" OR "MULTICULTURALISM" FOR=20
OURR OWN DARK PURPOSES AND
ON TEACHING "FEMINISM" OR=20
"MULTICULTURALISM" FOR OUR OWN DARK PURPOSES AND
ON TEACHING=20
"FEMINISM" OR "MULTICULTURALISM" FOR OURR OWN DARK PURPOSES=20
AND
> and cultural value of the concept.
I DON'T THINK THAT USING 'CONTACT=20
ZONE' AS A WAY TO DESCRIBE THE IMPACT OF
READING IN AMY WAY=20
DEVALUES IT
READING IN AMY WAY DEVALUES THE OTHER WAYS THAT=20
THE CONCEPT CAN BE USED. IN
FACT, PRATT'S ARTICLE IN _PROFESSION_=20
IS SPECIFICALLY PEDAGOGICAL, ALTHOUGH HER
BOOK IS MORE TEXTUAL=20
AND THEORETICAL. I PERSONALLY FIND IT LESS CONFUSING TO TH
THINK=20
ABOUT ALL ASPECTS OF MY LIFE AS A CONTACT ZONE, BUT I KNOW THAT=20
CAN BE PR
PRETTY TIRING. ANYWAY,FOR ME THE CLASSROOM AS=20
CONTACT ZONE, AND READING AS A S
SITE OF AND PARTICIPANT IN A=20
POLITICS AND PRAXIS OF THE CONTACT ZONE SEEMS INC
INCREDIBLY=20
USEFUL. THE REAL QUESTION WOULD BE -- HOW CAN WE GET STUDENTS=20
TO BU
BUY THE CONCEPT WITHOUT HAVING TO WATER IT DOWN TO SUCH=20
A DEGREE THAT IT IS INS
INSULTING? I MEAN, CONTACT ZONE THEORY=20
AND PRACTICE AREN'T JUST A NEWFANGLED KI
KIND OF PLURALISTIC=20
MULTICLUTURALISM, WHICH IS WHAT IT MAY END UP SOUNDING LIKE
IN=20
A 112 CLASS. BELIEVE ME, I'M NOT POINTING THE FINGER AT ANYONE BUT=
=20
MYSELF A
AND MY OWN EXPERIENCE HERE -- WHAT I *ABSOLUTELY DO=20
NOT* WANT 112 TO BE IS A GE
GENDER/SEXUALITY/ETHNICITY/RACE=20
SMORGASBOARD THAT WE THEORIZE AS=20
REPRESENTATION
REPRESENTATIONS OF READING AND CONTACT ZONE=20
UNDERPINNING FOR.
> One way to see reading is to see it as a public space,=20
contested
> by different bodies of thought (regimes of truth) over lengthy time=
periods.
>=20
by different bodies of thought (regimes of truth) over lengthy time p=
eriods.
YES, THIS=20
SEEMS A USEFUL WAY TO CONCEIVE OF READING.
> During the 12-14 c. the=20
humanists attempted to seize reading from the
> dominicans, moving it to the university=20
where it was enlarged. Today,
> reading is being contested at the university by=20
feminism(s) and several
> ethnicities. Historically, I have been wondering, if reading is a=
=20
series
> of methods by which subjectivities are contested, altered, maintain=
ed.
TODAY=20
IS THE STICKY POINT, I THINK. STUDENTS MAY BE WILLING TO BELIEVE=
=20
THAT
TRUTH AND THE PART OF "TRUTH-MAKING" THAT READING PLAYS=20
HAVE SHIFTED HISTORICAL
HISTORICALLY -- WHAT I THINK MAY BE HARD,=20
AND I'M MOSTLY TRYING TO TROUBLE-SHOO
TROUBLE-SHOOT HERE, IS=20
GETTING THEM TO BELIEVE IN THEIR OWN HISTORICITY, IN THE
PLITICAL=20
AND SOCIAL AS POINTS ON A CONTIMUUM THAT ISN'T NECESSARILY=20
LINEAR, NOR
IS IT PROGRESSIVE (AS IN "GETTING BETTER").
> Of course, I=20
am not asking about reading for content or reading for authorial
> intent or for meaning=20
making (I think). But I am wondering about reading as
> meaning made, knowledge=20
reified. I am not out to imply that major and )
> and minoritarian discopurses (right all are=20
minoritarian) are not leaky.
> Resistance is apparent in the popular, etc. if not the=20
reactive.
SPECIFIC KIND OF TEXT (I.E. VISUALLY READING=20
PRINTED/WRITTEN WORDS), WOULD THE
DEFINITION OF READING SHIFT=20
OVER THE COURSE OF THE SEMESTER? THE DEFINITION OF
TEXT? SEE=20
WHAT I MEAN HERE, ONE MINUTE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT "BOOKS" AND=20
THE NEXT
WE'RE TALKING ABOUT READING AND TEXTS IN MORE=20
ABSTRACT WAYS. WE COULD HAVE BOTH
I THINK, BUT THAT MIGHT=20
REQUIRE SOME PRETTY FANCY DANCING CURRICULUM-WISE AND I
IT=20
MIGHT LIMIT TEACHER'S CHOICES MORE THAN SOME OF US ARE WILLING=20
TO DO. WHAT
DO YOU THINK?
> Of course, I am not asking about reading for=20
content or reading for authorial
> intent or for meaning making (I think). But I am=20
wondering about reading as
> meaning made, knowledge reified. I am not out to imply=20
that major and )
> and minoritarian discopurses (right all are minoritarian) are not l=
eaky.
>=20
Resistance is apparent in the popular, etc. if not the reactive.
> A convenient way be to=20
organize a history of reading may be as a series of
> contested moments in=20
humanism/feminism/ethnicities in the university.
> Humanism here is figured as a civil=20
rights movement with obvious and
> important limits. Feminism similarly is configured=20
as a civil rights
> movement that critiques humanism and turns to reading the feminine=
=20
with new
> reading practices. Similarly, the current ethnic production
> of knowledge=20
teaches us a further critique of humanism and feminism.
> of knowledge teaches us a=20
further critique of humanism and feminism.
I'M REMINDED OF ROSE'S POEM HERE,=20
OF THE LINE WHERE SHE SAYS SOMETHING LIKE
'YOU SAY WE FINALLY=20
TALK BECAUSE NOW YOU FINALLY HEAR.' ISN'T THAT WHAT THE=20
AC
ACADEMY HAS DONE IN THE PAST 30 YEARS? STARTED LISTENING TO=20
THE CACOPHONY INSTE
INSTEAD OF EXPLAINING IT AWAY/
INSTEAD OF=20
EXPLAINING IT AWAY? DO WE HAVE TIME TO SHOW HOW THOSE VOICES=20
WERE
IGNORED AND MARGINALIZED BY THE ACADEMY AS WELL AS HOW=20
THEY ARE CURRENTLY ALL T
THE RAGE?
> I suggest this historical frame=20
(Always historicize.) is one way of overall
> course organization that we ought to discuss,=20
critique, and explore so that
> it is explored on the list informally or formally as a possible=
=20
way for
> teachers to orient a course in reading, among other ways of orienti=
ng a
> course=20
that we make possible by our research and discussions.
> It seems to me the narrative=20
construction of such an argument places
> its focus on feminism and ethnicities, but=20
historicizes humanism as
> a problem under interrogation. The course would include texts=20
that
> depict readers reading from multiple registers in these historic
> moments,=20
organized chronologically.
IF WE WERE TO ORGANIZE SUCH A COURSE, I=20
WOULD AGREE WITH THIS KIND OF STRUCTURE
STRUCTURE, BUT I=20
WOULD WANT TO DO THE KIND OF THING THAT I SUGGESTED ABOVE. =20
FO
FOR EXAMPLE, COULD WE LOOK AT THE TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THE=20
NORTON ANTHOLOGY SI
SINCE THE TIME OF ITS PUBLICATION AND ALSO=20
LOOK AT WHAT "MARGINAL" TEXTS WERE P
PUBLISHED, AND OFTEN=20
POPULAR, AT SAME TIME AS THE "CANONICAL" TEXTS AND TRY TO
MAYBE=20
TRACE WHERE THE 'MARGINAL" ENTERS THE MAINSTREAM AND WHY --=20
TIMEWISE -- T
THAT WOULD HAPPEN. FURTHER, I'D LIKE TO ALSO THINK=20
ABOUT WHY SOME "MINORITY" AU
AUTHORS ARE SO POPULAR AND=20
OTHERS ARE STILL IGNORED ACADEMICALLY.
> Such an argument could lead=20
students to see a need to diversify their
> consciousness, to get a long view of the structure=20
of knowledges at the
> university, and to acknowledge the deployment and complication=20
of their
> subjectivity. All in relation to the history of reading.
> Again, may I repeat, I=20
am not interested in arguing for one way of organizing
READ AND THINK AND WRITE=20
THEN YOU'RE ALREADY BEHIND ANYONE WHOSE POLITICAL=20
AND
CULTURAL EXISTENCE FORCES THEM TO "LEARN" THE 'WAYS" OF THE=20
MAJORITY/METROPOLIS
MAJORITY/METROPOLIS/OPPRESSOR.
> Again, may I=20
repeat, I am not interested in arguing for one way of organizing
> such a course. I am=20
interested in surveying many models of course
> orghanization with those on the list and=20
then excerpting or revising
> those discussions in some sort of text for a syllabus=20
guide.
> What of the loss of geography in such notion of the contact zone?
> What of the=20
loss of geography in such notion of the contact zone?
> those discussions in some sort of=20
text for a syllabus guide.
> What of the loss of geography in such notion of the contact=20
zone?
THEORIZING OF THE CONTACT ZONE. OUR STUDENT'S _HAVE_=20
GEOGRAPHICAL ORIENTATIONS
ORIENTATIONS, THEY JUST ARE (FOR THE=20
MOST PART) THE SAME ORIENTATIONS. GEOGRAPH
GEOGRAPHICAL=20
SAMENESS IS AS IMPORTANT (I THINK) AS GEPGRAPHICAL DIFFERENCE.=20
ALT
ALTHOUGH SPACE IS A TOUGH ONE HERE. WE WOULD BE ASKING=20
STUDENTS TO INHABIT A S
SPACE THAT THEY SIMPLY CANNOT "SEE" OR=20
"FEEL" (AND I'M NOT BEING CONDESCENDING
HERE). IT'S THE SPACE=20
THAT'S IMPORTANT -- THE CONTACT ZONE IS A SPACE, WHERE=20
CU
CULTURES MEET AND CLASH, OFTEN WITH RADICALLY DIFFERENT=20
AMOUNTS OF SOCIAL AND P
POLITICAL POWER. THE ONLY PLACE THAT=20
THE SPACE WOULD BE 'REAL" WOULD BE IN THE
REPRESENTATIONS OF=20
READING (THE TEXTS) USED IN THE COURSE -- SINCE MIAMI IS=20
SO
HOMOGENOUS, ANY OTHER KIND OF CONTACT ZONE WOULD BE=20
PRETTY ELUSIVE, UNLESS IT W
WAS BETWEEN THE STUDENTS AND THE=20
TEACHER (WHICH IS USUALLY THE CASE FOR ME -- I
I'M THE ODDITY THAT=20
THEY MUST CONTACT, WHICH IS HIGHLY PROBLEMATIC=20
CONSIDERING
THE POWER DYNAMICS AND THE WAY THAT THIS=20
PARTICULAR "CONTACT" GETS INTERPRETED
ON THE PART OF MY=20
STUDENTS), SO AGAIN, WE WOULD BE CONSTRUCTING A SYLLABUS=20
THAT
SPEAKS TO WHITE TEACHERS TEACHING WHITE STUDENTS -- HOW=20
WOULD A CONTACT ZONE CU
CURRICULUM, ORGANIZED IN THE WAY=20
THAT YOU SUGGEST HERE (AND THAT I, FOR THE REC
RECORD, DO NOT=20
DISAGREE WITH) WORK FOR NON-WHITE TEACHERS AND NON-WHITE=20
STUDENT
STUDENTS, OR EVEN FOR WOMEN TEACHERS OR NON-
HETEROSEXUALS? WE COME DANGEROUSLY
CLOSE TO EXOTICIZING THE=20
OTHER HER -- SOMETHING THAT PRATT'S BOOK TALKS ABOUT A
AND THAT=20
HER ARTICLE DOESN'T REALLY PROBLEMATIZE.
> What of other ways to talk=20
about reading as a contact zone
> What about other ways to organize a course on=20
reading?
> What about this way of organizing a course on reading?
I'M STILL=20
THINKING ABOUT THAT, AND THAT AND THAT. DECERTEAU TALKS ABOUT=20
CONSUM
CONSUMPTION IN THIS BOOK I'M READING (_PRACTICE OF=20
EVERYDAY LIFE_) -- AND HE TA
TALKS ABOUT TWO KINDS OF=20
CONSUMPTION, ONE IN WHICH THE PERSON CONSUMES THE THIN
THING=20
IN ORDER TO BECOME THE THING, AND ANOTHER IN WHICH THE PERSON=20
CONSUMES TH
THE THING IN ORDER TO MAKE THE THING LIKE THE=20
PERSON -- HE CALLS THEM ASSIMILAT
ASSIMILATION AND=20
APPROPRIATION. BOTH ARE PROBLEMATIC, BOTH COULD BE COLONIAL=20
D
DEPENDING ON WHICH YOU ARE -- THE PERSON OR THE THING. NEITHER=20
ACCOUNT FOR RESI
RESISTANCE (ALTHOUGH HE DOES CLAIM A=20
SUBVERSIVE FUNCTION TO BOTH, AND I AGREE,
BUT WITH=20
RESERVATIONS), NOR MAKE SPACE FOR INTERVENTION ON THE PART OF=20
THE PER
PERSON OR THE THING.
PERSON OR THE THING.
IT WOULD BE=20
HELPFUL FOR ME IF WE MADE SOME SORT OF DECISION ABOUT WHICH OF=20
THES
THESE WE ARE AFTER FOR THIS COURSE -- DO WE WANT STUDENTS=20
TO CONSUME THIS COURS
COURSE IN ORDER TO BECOME IT? OR, DO WE=20
WANT STUDENTS TO CONSUME THIS COURSE IN
ORDER TO CHANGE IT? =20
AM I MAKING ANY SENSE HERE? ANY RESPONSE WOULD BE=20
WELCOME
WELCOME.
WELCOME.
WELCOME.
SORRY FOR THE LENGTH OF=20
THE POST -- I'LL SHUT UP NOW. PLEASE ARGUE, AGREE,=20
OR
ANYTHING!!
ANYTHING!!
--MALEA
|
